You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer that said they shot weddings because they actually just loved running around on their feet 10+ hours a day in uncomfortable shoes ( yea, I still haven’t found any cute comfortable shoes that I don’t have to sacrafice my sense of fashion for).

You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer who loved  schelpping around heavy equipment, running from one venue to the next making sure they’ve remembered all that heavy equipment, that they didn’t leave a battery charger plugged in with extra batteries in the brides room at the church and that they’ve gotten all the pertinent addys programmed into the GPS.

You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer that loved it when they are getting ready to fire off a shot and Uncle Bob steps right in front of them to fire his own shot and you’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer who adored the tremendous amount of stress that actually comes with knowing you are the one solely responsible for capturing one of the most important days of a couple’s lives.

I would bet money that if you asked any wedding photographer why they shot weddings and not flowers they would tell you they did it for the “emotion”.

I do it for the ugly comfortable shoes AND the stress.  Oh, alright. I do it for the emotion too.  If you know me, you know I’m a crier. I cry at anything and everything. And 9x out of 10 I will cry at the weddings I shoot.  I mean, I don’t do the ugly cry but there will be tears in my eyes at some point during the day. I’ve learned to deal with it. And when you have a big black camera in front of your face people don’t really notice. That’s a good thing.

Photographing Valerie & David’s wedding was no exception. There were so many tender moments dispersed throughout the day. Knowing how much hard work was put into the day I knew it would be an emotional day…for everyone.  From the presentation of the “Irish Penny” from Valerie’s mother to the moment her father first walked into his own bedroom and saw his daughter ready to walk down the aisle to the first glimpse David got of Valerie as she surprised him before the ceremony during his portraits. It was an amazing day filled with special moments and special details. I was happy to be a part of such an amazing day for Valerie & David.

They were married in the back yard of Valerie’s parents home in an intimate dusk ceremony. The weather was perfect. It was a beautiful night. Here are just a few of my favorite shots from the night.

I love these next 2 shot of Val as she wrote a little card for David before the ceremony. There were lots of little surprises throughout the day.

This next shot is one of my favorites of the day. When Val’s dad came in to see her for the first time. It was PURE luck that I got the shot and noticed later that the portrait on the wall behind him is Valerie when she was a little girl. ahhh…more emotion!

We had planned out a “moment” shot. Valerie wanted to surprise David before the ceremony breaking the tradition of not seeing the bride until she’s walking down the aisle. He was a little afraid to turn around and see her…I think he was thinking he was going to get in trouble. It was so cute!

And he won’t see her again……

until……………

Look at how happy Valerie is when the pastor announces them husband and wife. You gotta love that emotion!

A few formals of the happy couple.

David wrote a song for Valerie and he performed it…just him..and the guitar….in front of the entire reception. It was so cute. He claimed he couldn’t sing but he did pretty stinkin’ good if you ask me.

Valerie seemed to like it too.

After it was all said and done…they shared their last dance of the night.

Congrats to Valerie & David! Thanks for asking me to be a small part of your big day!